I was in the market for a deskstand and when the folks at Mobile Fun suggested that I review their Desk Genie, I agreed and kept my expectations low. However, Mobile Fun’s Desk Genie is one of the most flexible and multipurpose desk stands that I have come across and if you are looking to get a desk stand for your phone, you search might just have ended. It is not perfect but comes very close to it considering the price you pay for this incredibly useful desk accessory that does a ton of things in a pretty compact design.

Lets go over a few of the things it does:

Mobile Phone Stand: A mobile phone stand that features a non-slip surface on which you can simply place your phone. It is at an incline so keeping the phone and picking it up is easy. The surface leaves no residue on the back of the phone and since there is no contact on the sides, there is no question of the phone getting scratched. Lastly, since its just a large non slip surface you can place any device on it and it serves as a universal holder.

Charger: The Desk Genie can also act as a charger for your mobile phones and comes with a bunch of adapters (proprietary Nokia, Mini USB, microUSB, iPhone etc) so that you can use it with devices from different makers. It connects to your computer via USB and draws power from it, so don’t expect charging to be superfast, but that’s true for all desktop chargers.

USB Ports: The Desk Genie also has two additional USB ports so you can plug in flash drives and other peripherals. Good to have if you own something like a Macbook which has just two USB ports.

Card Reader: Next is a multi-format (8 formats according to the website) card reader that can take SD cards, microSD cards and a few other formats. Needless to say, a very welcome functionality indeed specially because you don’t need to find that microSD to SD converter anymore.

As you can see from the above list, the Desk Genie packs a number of features that none of the other regular desk stands come close to. More importantly it is something that keeps lying on your desk, ready to be called into action and when you need that extra USB port or your card reader, you do not need to go hunting for it.

The device is made of plastic and the finish is not the most wonderful that you will find but doesn’t give you a reason to complain either. The non slip surface loses its ability to keep phones secure over time as dust accumulates over it. Fortunately this has an easy fix, all you need to is wash it with a bit of water and the surface will once again become as good as new.

In the last few weeks that I have been using it I have found it to be a handy little accessory. I regularly use it as a card reader and as a desk stand for whatever phone I happen to be using and thoroughly enjoy this universal device compatibility. All in all it manages to remain compact despite packing so much functionality and is great value for money specially if you think some of the other functionality it packs can come in handy for you.